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Goop’s Netflix series: It’s so much worse than I expected and I can’t unsee it

Vulvas, psychics, and junk science, oh my. I watched so you don't have to.

Enlarge/ This is the exact moment in the goop lab's third episode in which Gwyneth Paltrow admits she doesn't know the difference between a vagina and a vulva. She's making a hand gesture to say what she thought the "vagina" was.

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With the goop lab hitting Netflix today, January 24th, we've resurfaced this review (originally published January 17th). And as we originally said, this review contains detailed information about the Netflix series with Gwyneth Paltrow. If you plan to watch the show (please, don't) and do not wish to know details in advance, this is not the review for you. Normally, we would refer to such information as "spoilers," but in our editorial opinion, nothing in this series is spoil-able.

In the third episode of Goop's Netflix series, a female guest remarks that we women are seen as "very dangerous when we're knowledgeable." [Ep. 3, 33:35]

"Tell me about it," Gwyneth Paltrow knowingly replies amid "mm-hmms"—as if she has a first-hand understanding of this.

Further Reading

But after watching just a few minutes of any of the six episodes of the goop lab—or knowing pretty much anything about her pseudoscience-peddling "contextual commerce" company "Goop"—one might be skeptical that Paltrow has ever borne any such burden of knowledge in her life.

In fact, earlier in that same episode, we learn that the 47-year-old actor didn't even know what a vagina is.

"It's our favorite subject—vaginas!" Paltrow proclaims gleefully [Ep.3, 3:05]. Then the same guest, feminist sex educator Betty Dodson, corrects her: "The vagina is the birth canal—only. You want to talk about the vulva, which is the clitoris, and the inner lips, and all that good shit around it."

Paltrow giggles before responding, "The vagina is only the birth canal? Oh! See, I'm getting an anatomy lesson that I didn't—I thought that the vagina was the whole..."

"No, no, no, no," Dodson cuts her off.

To be fair, a lot of women might not be clear on this particular anatomical point. But for Paltrow, who claims to help empower women while touting dubious and dangerous products and treatments for said body part—ahem, vaginal steaming, cough, jade eggs—you'd hope she had a tight understanding of what a vagina is—or isn't in this case.

But sadly, she didn't. And throughout the rest of the series, her ignorance and lack of critical thinking skills are on full display as a parade of questionable "experts" and ridiculous claims about health and science march across the small screen unchallenged.

(To be clear, Dodson was not among the dubious guests I'm referring to here; she is knowledgeable and respectable and was probably the most interesting and informative guest on the show.)

The show overall

I'll go through each episode in more detail below, but for those who want to spare themselves from the bulk of the absurdity, I'll summarize here:

In so many ways, the goop lab with Gwyneth Paltrow is exactly what you'd expect based on what we already know about the Goop brand. The series provides a platform for junk science, gibberish, and unproven health claims from snake-oil-salesmen guests. It's a platform on which respected, trained medical experts are not considered the authorities on health and medical topics; where logic and critical thinking are enemies of open-mindedness; where anecdotes about undefined health improvements are considered evidence for specific medical treatment claims; where the subjective experiences of a few select individuals are equivalent to the results of randomized, controlled clinical trials; and where promoting unproven, potentially dangerous health claims is a means to empower women.

Paltrow and Loehnen sit in Goop's headquarters for an interview.

Netflix

Members of the "Goop gang" convene in Jamaica to convince themselves that magic mushrooms are a crucial part of a therapeutic journey.

Netflix

This woman isn't crying because she's on the goop lab. Instead, the tears are apparently coming on because she took a dose of psilocybin as part of a "therapy retreat" in Jamaica.

Netflix

A Gooper lies on the floor while tripping.

Netflix

These are often paired with anecdotes about participants in limited clinical trials. We hear their success stories without context about how the associated study at-large turned out or whether any positive results came with side effects or issues with bias.

Netflix

A Gooper gets a hug while tripping.

Netflix

Just another day in Jamaica, where Goopers gather to take shrooms, cry, and hug.

Netflix

The problem with this boilerplate statement is that most of the goop lab is full of one-sided, anecdotal claims that standard Western medical practice is all wrong. Right or wrong, that is most certainly a type of "medical advice," Gwyneth and co.

Netflix

But, beyond all of that, the show is just, well, boring.

Each episode uses the exact same structure. Each presents one of six health topics, which are (in order): psychedelics; "iceman" Wim Hof's breathing and cold-treatment method; female pleasure; anti-aging; energy healing; and psychics.

In each episode, you see Gwyneth Paltrow and Goop's chief content officer, Elise Loehnen, interview a couple of people involved in the episode's topic. The interviews take place in an airy, stylishly decorated office at Goop's Santa Monica headquarters. Interspersed between snippets of those interviews, you see groups of Goop-employee volunteers subject themselves to some therapy or experience related to the episode's topic. The interview dialogue from Goop headquarters is used to essentially narrate the Goopers' experiences. The Goopers' results are, in turn, intended to back up whatever claims the interviewees make.

It's a tiring structure for six straight episodes, and it's often not done well. The pacing is slow at times; some of the Goopers' experiences are just not engaging and seem like filler; some of their personal stories are introduced at the start of episodes and then inexplicably abandoned at the end; the interviews at Goop headquarters can seem drawn out and dry; and there are random tangents about Gwyneth Paltrow's life and the office environment at Goop headquarters.

Even if you're interested in the topics, getting through the episodes can feel like a slog—and they're each only 30-35 minutes long.

It feels like the momentum of each episode is supposed to be driven by anticipation of how the Goopers' experiences match what the interviewees are saying. But we hardly ever get satisfying conclusions on that front—and we wouldn't be convinced even if we did. Instead, the show seems to move each episode along more by leaning on shock content that might best appeal to middle schoolers—showing glimpses of a woman having an orgasm, a Goop staffer getting a face lift using string that pulls her smile toward her ears, and a group of Goopers tripping on mushrooms.

Meanwhile, the goop lab makes no effort to question or critically evaluate any of its claims. There are no fact checks or counterpoints offered. There's no mention of any criticism and little to no warnings of potential harms.

In all, it's a show that you can safely skip. But, if you still want to know more about why the goop lab is so bad, let's run through the six episodes.

Goop on shrooms

The first episode covers psychedelics and their potential to improve mental health. Paltrow and Loehnen sit down with Will Siu (a psychiatrist who supports "psychedelic Integration" in therapies) and Mark Haden (executive director of MAPS Canada, which is an affiliate of the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies, a nonprofit created in 1985 to advocate for the medical benefits and use of psychedelic drugs, such as MDMA and LSD). Siu received training at MAPS.

Further Reading

The episode references the fact that reputable academic researchers—many associated with MAPS—are exploring in clinical trials whether certain psychedelics can aid in addressing specific mental-health conditions, such as clinical depression and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The early trials on these subjects have provided some positive results.

“Being the person that people perceive me to be is inherently traumatic.”

For instance, in 2016 the Food and Drug Administration greenlighted the first Phase III trial to assess whether or 3,4-Methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA)—known as "molly" or "ecstasy"—can improve the symptoms of PTSD. And treatments with psilocybin, the psychedelic component of "magic" mushrooms, has yielded positive results in small trials on people struggling with depression.

While that research is legitimate and interesting, the Goop episode approached the topic in the dumbest possible way: a group of four Goop employees hop on a plane to Jamaica to trip on mushrooms. Two of the Goopers weren't trying to address mental health. One Gooper said she wanted to feel more creative and like her "authentic self," and Loehnen, who went, said she wanted a "psychospiritual experience." The other two were trying to "process some personal trauma."

While the clinical trials are evaluating specific drug doses to treat well-defined symptoms in tightly controlled, weeks-long programs, the Goopers drank mushroom tea once, in a "more ceremonial setting," surrounded by what they described as "psychedelic elders."

Further Reading

You'd think watching people trip on mushrooms might be fun. It was, in fact, boring. You mostly just see them lying on the floor, laughing or crying to themselves. The episode shows little else of what goes on and hardly any dialogue among the "elders" and the Goopers.

Meanwhile, the interview back at Goop headquarters starts rambling, with discussion around vague mental health issues, the value of "connecting people," harmful societal norms, and how basically everyone is suffering. Paltrow notes at one point that she, too, suffers mental-health problems despite her wealth and status, and she adds that "being the person that people perceive me to be is inherently traumatic." [Ep.1, 29:00] Poor Gwyneth.

At the end of the episode, some of the Goopers talk about how the experience was intense—well, yeah. We don't hear back from the woman who wanted to be more creative, so we can only hope things worked out for her. But one of the Goopers processing trauma (in his case, trauma of having an emotionally distant father) said in a final one-on-one discussion with Paltrow that he felt more of an "openness" after the experience. He thanked Paltrow for letting him go.

The female anatomy / pleasure episode sounds like it would just fill me with pity about women having cultural mores / pressures / men wanting to control knowledge about their body to deny them information to empower them forced on them and trying to break that.

To be fair, males are hardly experts on their own anatomy and reproductive systems.

The basic mechanics we know, but most men have no idea about where the semen comes from and assume it's their testes. In reality the testes produce the half-fabricate, semen is formed and ejected from the seminal vesicles, which are in the lower belly (so no, you are not emptying your balls during sex^^).

Are you referring to semen or sperm? Sperm is most definitely produced in the testes, which are a thickly woven series of tubes similar to a rubber band ball. That statement of emptying your "balls" during sex could be applied to you outpacing the body to reproduce all the sperm you just dumped.

The female anatomy / pleasure episode sounds like it would just fill me with pity about women having cultural mores / pressures / men wanting to control knowledge about their body to deny them information to empower them forced on them and trying to break that.

To be fair, males are hardly experts on their own anatomy and reproductive systems.

The basic mechanics we know, but most men have no idea about where the semen comes from and assume it's their testes. In reality the testes produce the half-fabricate, semen is formed and ejected from the seminal vesicles, which are in the lower belly (so no, you are not emptying your balls during sex^^).

Are you referring to semen or sperm? Sperm is most definitely produced in the testes, which are a thickly woven series of tubes similar to a rubber band ball. That statement of emptying your "balls" during sex could be applied to you outpacing the body to reproduce all the sperm you just dumped.

In any case, men know the difference between their penis and their testicles, and I hardly think many need a class on how to masturbate.

The founder of chiropractic was taught the fundamentals of it by the ghost of a long dead doctor. Who could possibly have a problem with that?

/s

And N Tesla told this story "His second “vision” occurred much later in life, involving his beloved pigeons. He claimed that he was alone in his hotel room one night when a white pigeon for whom he harbored particularly great affection came to see him. He was then suddenly blinded by two powerful beams of light that communicated to him that he had finished all of his life’s work and would die soon.

His science we know to be garbage right?

/s

A lot of Tesla's stuff was wrong, yeah. Nobody is suppressing global transmissible free energy: it just wouldn't have worked.

Ha! Those people in that first series of photos don't know how to trip! All that new-age shit and sitting around in a circle of libtards. And drinking mushroom TEA!? No, no, no.

I'd like to come plowing in there with some deadhead buddies and a nice, big sound system loaded and ready with a playlist of the Beatles, the Grateful Dead, Jimmy Hendrix, and Parliament Funkadelic. Put up a few thin colorful tapestries that will flowingly move with the wind of the ceiling fans. And get a couple dogs in there, too! There's nothing like a goofy mutt as a companion on a psychedelic trip. Now once you've got all this shit set up, improvise! And get out there in that forest in the background (not too far, though), and watch those trees dance; watch the fairies furtively dart around, and enjoy the benevolent multicolored triceratops gracefully weaving among the trees.

Oh, you definitely get some good therapy. Maybe not the therapy you were seeking, but certainly the therapy you needed.

OK boomer

I'm actually Gen-X, but it's surely the boomers to give the best advice on tripping.

Every time I hear about some unsupported, lame-brained pseudoscientific healing I always remember the person that "added positive energy" or some such to their car by hot gluing rocks to the airbag cover of the steering wheel.

I wonder if their improvised claymore mine ever went off, or if they're still driving around face-to-projectile with UXO.

Please forgive me both my fellow Arsians and my fellow Americans (for those of you here in the states), but can someone with more legal knowledge hit me with the clue bat here: do we not have consumer protection and or medical laws, at the federal level, in this country that basically make this sort of shit just plain, flat out illegal? I am genuinely curious. Thank you in advance to anyone who humors me and can impart some knowledge.

The first episode covers psychedelics and their potential to improve mental health. Paltrow and Loehnen sit down with Will Siu (a psychiatrist who supports "psychedelic Integration" in therapies)

The next series will have a probing interview representatives from the Sackler and Sinaloa drug cartels about their revolutionary "opioid integration" therapies.

The frustrating thing here is that psychedelics are actually beginning to be seriously, scientifically investigated as legitimate treatments for various forms of depression and other mental health issues, and early results are very promising. But batshit woo like Goop latching onto the idea and running with it will only serve to engender negative (hopefully merely sarcastic?) feedback like this. Hopefully, the actual research can overcome any Goop-based negative bias.

Though I've never used them, I have no problem whatsoever with psychedelics or people who do choose to use them. My comment was intended as a poke at the social and political optics of drug use in general.

After all, some groups have the power to privilege their preferred forms of, let's say therapy, while people who've found themselves with different choices are thrown into the jaws of the criminal justice system and the political machine that supplies it with resources and friendly legislation. If Paltrow wanted to extol the virtues of cocaine (coca) use, even if it were in the more holistic form long used by indigenous people in South America, would any serious media company endorse her agenda by distributing it? Here, whether we buy everything she sells or ridicule everything she does, our attention is entirely focused on bullshit. It distracts us from addressing more meaningful questions, even those on related topics.

The female anatomy / pleasure episode sounds like it would just fill me with pity about women having cultural mores / pressures / men wanting to control knowledge about their body to deny them information to empower them forced on them and trying to break that.

To be fair, males are hardly experts on their own anatomy and reproductive systems.

The basic mechanics we know, but most men have no idea about where the semen comes from and assume it's their testes. In reality the testes produce the half-fabricate, semen is formed and ejected from the seminal vesicles, which are in the lower belly (so no, you are not emptying your balls during sex^^).

Are you referring to semen or sperm? Sperm is most definitely produced in the testes, which are a thickly woven series of tubes similar to a rubber band ball. That statement of emptying your "balls" during sex could be applied to you outpacing the body to reproduce all the sperm you just dumped.

In any case, men know the difference between their penis and their testicles, and I hardly think many need a class on how to masturbate.

First I laughed at your reply. Then I was a little sad, recalling a conversation with a friend many years ago. Here's the short version: I was 21 and raised in an irreligious household. He was 19 (just to emphasize: NINETEEN!) and was expressing sexual frustration. He was raised in a strict, Catholic household. I said to him that if he wasn't getting laid, he should masturbate. He asked me, "All the way to orgasm?"

Wow. I said, "Yeah, man: that's the point."

In a way, I gave this sexually frustrated young man permission to have an orgasm. He was a virgin, and he wanted to know if he should masturbate to orgasm! No wonder the poor guy was so frustrated.

So, it's kinda sad that to some degree, some men do need at least some kind of "instruction."

How is it that I, sitting in southern Minnesota (just about as far from an ocean as you can get in North America) can get fresh salmon for like half the price of the frozen stuff in California? That makes no sense at all to me.

What we are witnessing is the realization by scam artists, corporations, political scumbags (Hi Republicans! Not that other parties are scum free..), etc. that the American public is mostly comprised of complete morons with a few gifted idiots mixed in. These groups used to spend huge amounts of time and resources to craft and cover up their lies and bullshit to dupe the dopes. But, little by little as they pushed the envelope of credulity in the quest for power and profit, they saw that people kept buying it. They've now seen that there is no effective limit on the stupid. Goop, Trump, Facebook... The public laps it up and begs for more.

The terrifying truth the remaining pinpoints of intelligent life are facing is this is how it ends. America is failing from death by dumb and the idiots are cheerfully stampeding down the drain as fast as they can.

[Are you referring to semen or sperm? Sperm is most definitely produced in the testes, which are a thickly woven series of tubes similar to a rubber band ball. That statement of emptying your "balls" during sex could be applied to you outpacing the body to reproduce all the sperm you just dumped.

I was clearly and consistently referring to Semen. And no you do never empty your balls through ejaculation. Everything works fine after a vasectomy, just semen without sperm. Now perhaps that's medically no longer semen, but it's not influencing your ejaculation.

The first episode covers psychedelics and their potential to improve mental health. Paltrow and Loehnen sit down with Will Siu (a psychiatrist who supports "psychedelic Integration" in therapies)

The next series will have a probing interview representatives from the Sackler and Sinaloa drug cartels about their revolutionary "opioid integration" therapies.

The frustrating thing here is that psychedelics are actually beginning to be seriously, scientifically investigated as legitimate treatments for various forms of depression and other mental health issues, and early results are very promising. But batshit woo like Goop latching onto the idea and running with it will only serve to engender negative (hopefully merely sarcastic?) feedback like this. Hopefully, the actual research can overcome any Goop-based negative bias.

I think part of it is that psychedelics do crazy things to dopamine, which is a neurotransmitter related to depression (too little), schizophrenia (too much) and sleep and dreaming. I imagine psychedelics cause a huge spike of dopamine which causes hallucinations, so in smaller, long acting controlled doses I'd imagine they'd make amazing antidepressants. Which is, apparently, what the research is showing. They'd probably help with controlling addiction as well.

I was brought up Christian, and frankly, I'm offended. Didn't we have enough bizarre faith-based mumbo-jumbo for you? Where did we go wrong?

Right!? Man, if Christianity didn't do it, then Islam probably won't either. Maybe try Mormonism: that some pretty far out mumbo-jumbo. I mean, what serious religion has an arch-prophet named JOE SMITH?

An American one, of course! Although Scientology probably has most of them beat, for a purely bizarre belief system. It so bizarre they won't even tell their followers about it until they have lots of coercive background information about them.

I was brought up Christian, and frankly, I'm offended. Didn't we have enough bizarre faith-based mumbo-jumbo for you? Where did we go wrong?

Right!? Man, if Christianity didn't do it, then Islam probably won't either. Maybe try Mormonism: that some pretty far out mumbo-jumbo. I mean, what serious religion has an arch-prophet named JOE SMITH?

An American one, of course! Although Scientology probably has most of them beat, for a purely bizarre belief system. It so bizarre they won't even tell their followers about it until they have lots of coercive background information about them.

I was brought up Christian, and frankly, I'm offended. Didn't we have enough bizarre faith-based mumbo-jumbo for you? Where did we go wrong?

Right!? Man, if Christianity didn't do it, then Islam probably won't either. Maybe try Mormonism: that some pretty far out mumbo-jumbo. I mean, what serious religion has an arch-prophet named JOE SMITH?

An American one, of course! Although Scientology probably has most of them beat, for a purely bizarre belief system. It so bizarre they won't even tell their followers about it until they have lots of coercive background information about them.

Thank you Beth for taking the time and effort to do what I never would have done in a million years and reminding me why my instincts were spot on. This stuff was funny until one realizes it's really not. In a recent interview I watched of Robert Downey Jr (who seemed a genuinely good guy), he praised Paltrow's acting prowess of briefly reading a script and grasping her character's personality quickly. Well, yeah. "You're an airhead." seems one role she can master . Uniting the airheads around the globe to send gobs of money for Goop's 'products' and invest in their promoted 'activities' seems a role she was born to play. Cha-ching!What a world.

This sounds way, way worse that that (documentary?) show "Behind the Curve" on Netflix about the Flat Earthers. That was fortunately only one episode. Watch that only out of blatant curiosity (know thy enemy) while ironically assembling my Lego Saturn V rocket kit. Great casualties of the war on science. Thank you Beth for watching this so we don't have to.

...huh? "Behind the Curve" was a great documentary on Flat Earthers. At no point did it take the side of their pseudoscientific nonsense. It was about their societies and why they came to believe what they do (and also how their attempts to prove their nonsense only confirm objective reality).

The female anatomy / pleasure episode sounds like it would just fill me with pity about women having cultural mores / pressures / men wanting to control knowledge about their body to deny them information to empower them forced on them and trying to break that.

To be fair, males are hardly experts on their own anatomy and reproductive systems.

The basic mechanics we know, but most men have no idea about where the semen comes from and assume it's their testes. In reality the testes produce the half-fabricate, semen is formed and ejected from the seminal vesicles, which are in the lower belly (so no, you are not emptying your balls during sex^^).

Are you referring to semen or sperm? Sperm is most definitely produced in the testes, which are a thickly woven series of tubes similar to a rubber band ball. That statement of emptying your "balls" during sex could be applied to you outpacing the body to reproduce all the sperm you just dumped.

In any case, men know the difference between their penis and their testicles, and I hardly think many need a class on how to masturbate.

First I laughed at your reply. Then I was a little sad, recalling a conversation with a friend many years ago. Here's the short version: I was 21 and raised in an irreligious household. He was 19 (just to emphasize: NINETEEN!) and was expressing sexual frustration. He was raised in a strict, Catholic household. I said to him that if he wasn't getting laid, he should masturbate. He asked me, "All the way to orgasm?"

Wow. I said, "Yeah, man: that's the point."

In a way, I gave this sexually frustrated young man permission to have an orgasm. He was a virgin, and he wanted to know if he should masturbate to orgasm! No wonder the poor guy was so frustrated.

So, it's kinda sad that to some degree, some men do need at least some kind of "instruction."

Sigh...

That is sad. Sounds like he needed permission more than instruction, but maybe it's similar for some women.

a Goop staffer getting a face lift using string that pulls her smile toward her ears

Quote:

While the clinical trials are evaluating specific drug doses to treat well-defined symptoms in tightly controlled, weeks-long programs, the Goopers drank mushroom tea once, in a "more ceremonial setting," surrounded by what they described as "psychedelic elders."

Quote:

Paltrow notes at one point that she, too, suffers mental-health problems despite her wealth and status, and she adds that "being the person that people perceive me to be is inherently traumatic." [Ep.1, 29:00] Poor Gwyneth.

Quote:

While there's certainly evidence that breathing and meditation methods can help improve well-being, particularly for people suffering anxiety or depression, Hof is well-known for making unsupported medical claims and spewing pseudoscientific gobbledygook about his strategy. For instance, he's suggested that his method can cure cancer....In the end, none of them dies, and one of them says it helped her manage a panic disorder. The former point is important given that there have been several reported deaths among people using Hof's method. This, of course, is not mentioned in the Goop episode.

Quote:

While Paltrow and Loehnen talk with them, you see a group of Goopers do a workshop with a different, LA-based sex educator who works to guide women to have a more satisfying sex life.

Quote:

Loehnen, meanwhile, goes to a grocery store and somehow spends $50 on a pound of pre-frozen salmon.

Quote:

Loehnen gets 100 acupuncture needles in her face

Quote:

At Goop headquarters, Paltrow and Loehnen interview chiropractor and "body worker" John Amaral. He claims to influence how energy moves through the body by changing the frequency of a person, or something-something, quantum physics. We also hear from Apostolos Lekkos, a physician who is really into "manipulating the energetic field of a person." He's also Amaral's apprentice.

Quote:

Amusingly, one Gooper admitted she didn't believe any of this and sat down for a one-on-one reading with Jackson to see if she could be convinced. As Jackson put out her feelers and probed for information, she kept striking out. "Are there twins in the family or like a Gemini birthday—what is that, June?" [Ep. 6, 24:00]

"No," the Gooper replied.

This sort of thing kept happening, and it seemed like a total disaster. Then we panned over to see a member of the camera crew bawling, saying that Jackson was describing her completely. So Jackson's reputation was unimpeached—she was accidentally just reading the wrong person. Or so we're told.

That's the problem with Reality TV these days: The Simpsons already did it.

Since the article mentioned Costco, as a total Costco fanboi, I am alarmed at the shady stuff you find in their "health" section. Some quite goop-worthy. I recall some sign indicating $70 off of neck cream. So there is some goop for your neck that exceeds $70? Costco also sells tumeric in the health section.

To be fair, tumeric is a known anti-inflammatory agent, similar to ibuprofen. Though the body is pretty poor at absorbing it, unless the tumeric is combined with pepper.

I did actually have a (relatively) polite debate with a snake-oil company on Facebook who were trying to sell some "super anti-inflammatory" pills based on tumeric. Oddly, they were completely unable to provide any evidence that their "super" recipe was any more effective than the standard (and far cheaper) pepper/tumeric pills sold on Amazon and the like...

Turmeric may be "well known" as hawked by hustlers, but there is no clinical evidence of its efficacy. I did read a report or two that said at least it did not appear to increase inflammation, but that is hardly a compliment.

People apparently flooded the website to try and buy the fake products, which prompted them to make a few actual products to sell on the site, with all proceeds going to charity. https://youtu.be/GfytmB6bU9o

Since the article mentioned Costco, as a total Costco fanboi, I am alarmed at the shady stuff you find in their "health" section. Some quite goop-worthy. I recall some sign indicating $70 off of neck cream. So there is some goop for your neck that exceeds $70? Costco also sells tumeric in the health section.

To be fair, tumeric is a known anti-inflammatory agent, similar to ibuprofen. Though the body is pretty poor at absorbing it, unless the tumeric is combined with pepper.

I did actually have a (relatively) polite debate with a snake-oil company on Facebook who were trying to sell some "super anti-inflammatory" pills based on tumeric. Oddly, they were completely unable to provide any evidence that their "super" recipe was any more effective than the standard (and far cheaper) pepper/tumeric pills sold on Amazon and the like...

Turmeric may be "well known" as hawked by hustlers, but there is no clinical evidence of its efficacy. I did read a report or two that said at least it did not appear to increase inflammation, but that is hardly a compliment.

Best I can do is if I am suffering a bout of IBS, or if I've come down with an intestinal bug, when I am on the mend, turmeric is one of the few spices I can tolerate that doesn't have the potential to make things worse. So most of my early "solid foods" forays ends up being like rice with a little salt and turmeric, so at least I have some flavor to go with the otherwise bland food. I'll step it up to rice with a tiny amount of butter, salt and turmeric the next day (probably mixing in couscous with the same).

Most other stuff I've tried at some point in time or another is a bad idea. Even things you wouldn't think could cause further upset, like oregano or basil (and of course stay away from anything with heat!)

But for all I know, Cumin or Savory might be fine and I just haven't tried them. One of those I tried a few things and Turmeric was okay (or as okay as plain rice), so I stopped trying new spices to see if they'd be okay.

Ok, I'm glad Beth wrote this. Now I don't feel so bad for laughing at the articles puns for what is a serious deliberate misleading and wrong presentation of pseudo science and snake oil. Laughing at Beth's articles is pretty much expected.